Highwind Albatross - Utter failure

Just a note that not everyone shoots them down to be a griefer. Keep in mind that there is a tremendous amount of lag right now so the players on the albatross aren't always visible. I myself shot down one by accident.

Sure, there is a lot of lag and confusion, not everyone is doing it to exploit their own faction.

But there's also a TON of this:

There's a guy sitting at one of the points where they come low enough to hit and just murdering them all for the purpose of griefing other players. Kinda sucks, and basically shuts down the whole island's system of albatross transport...

Agreed, I can understand the fun of having PvP happen on the Isle but not with something like this...make the Albatros more like an item/vehicle...once you tag/use it it shouldn't adhere to other players.

Agreed, I got very lucky and did it twice on both my alliance and horde mains - but I saw a few Belfs griefing Alliance players by doing this - one particular poor sap took 3 hours just to get to the last riddle point.

1.) Some of us are on PvE realms and CANNOT force these griefers to flag and die.

2.) Some of these griefers are YOUR faction, i.e. horde players killing albatrosses carrying OTHER horde players, and vice versa.

3.) Since you cannot force them to flag and be dealt with via PvP and you cannot force them to stop and the albatrosses are relatively easy to kill, one single player can quite literally effectively STOP every single other player on his/her server from completing certain quests, accessing certain rares, or accessing certain chests, and are thus unable to complete certain achievements.

4.) "Go away and come back later" does not apply in the early days of a new patch, as it is a constant thing. Between lag and honest mistakes, players new to the island who haven't figured out the albatross mechanic yet, and genuine griefers, getting through those crowds and to your chests, rare spawn, or quest is like winning the lottery. I'm sorry, but it just isn't acceptable to be told "deal with it" because I play on a PvE realm and have NO recourse, and it isn't acceptable to be told to wait what could be several days or even a matter of weeks to complete a quest or achievement.

PvP has PvP solutions. Not all of us are on PvP realms, not all of these griefers are flagged, and not all of them will be opposing faction. I can stand in front of them and flag, but if they have a functioning brain, they won't take the bait.

I don't think this should be actionable, but I do think the mechanic needs to be altered slightly. Albatrosses carrying another player should not be attackable, or should at least be considered tagged and continue on their merry way if they are carrying somebody.

I believe the albatross must be redesigned as a vehicle, free flying mob till you "CLICK" exit. when its carrying someone, its a part of them, subject to mount rules, PVP realms will fight over it etc. This may also lead to people griefing by staying on the albatross' indefinately, so an "intended" drop off point may be required.

I'd been looking to see if there was a post up already on the Albatross. I know there's a good chance it won't get noticed, but it'd be nice if Blizz could take this suggestion if they wanted to continue to use this method for Rolo's Riddle, etc;

Once a player has been taken up by an Albatross, it should become untouchable by others, in the same way you cannot Deathgrip a target that someone else has hit. A simple "This has already been tapped" option would be nice

I just want to mention something, I understand that some people are griefing but some people (like myself) may not realize it has someone. Originally I didnt realize that the ones I attacked that didnt pick me up had someone, I assumed they were glitched. It wasn't until someone said "leave my bird alone" that I realized they weren't glitched. I also couldn't see some of the people in the birds mouth very well until after I hit it, which means a few times I had to find a way to die (because they will chase you forever) so some people may not be willing to take a few minutes to walk to the nearest cliff and jump off when you can just kill the bird in five seconds. So keep that in mind before yelling at someone. Because if you yell at someone when they just made a mistake they may just kill your bird instead of taking the time to die, I know I would in that situation.

This entire island seems to be designed as a gigantic playground for same faction griefers. Whethers its deliberately dragging aoe over people, stealing tags, tricking people into flagging and everything else, this evening has make me realize that I really do hate the majority of people playing this game.

Just for the record, if anyone is trying to reach the area on the other side of the broken bridge there is another way to get there. (Aside from Levitate, Slow Fall, Engineering or the Albatross)

Purchase "golden glider" from Ku-Mo (kite vendor near the Celestial Court). Head up to the end of the bridge where it's broken and you cannot go further.

If you are facing the broken part of the bridge, to your left there is a broken pillar on the bridge. Hop on the railing and carefully make your way to the peak of that broken pillar. Jump up and click on the Glider. You want to aim for the lower grassy area on the other side, to the left of the other half of the bridge. Land on the grass and boom. You're there. Just run up the hill.

It took me two tries to aim right, but it was fairly simple to get to. No need to frustrate yourself over the people killing Albatross.

*Note - do NOT enter the area straight in front of you from the bridge without the cloak, or you'll get ported out. Head to your left and around the side there is a small circular area with a nice chest to loot. (Blazing Chest).

Rarely have I seen such unanimous condemnation of a game mechanic (I add to it my own). There is really no legitimate reason for this no way to stop people from doing in on pve servers. Even when someone does it by accident, it's still stupid, because as the intentional and required mode of transport for certain objectives it should not be subject to accidental interference.

Make the birds unattackable by other players when they're carrying someone. The end.

I agree OP, this quest was utterly stupid and obviously nobody at blizzard thought about how people act while playing this game. After about the 20th time of being shot down by some jerk I just flew from the outside of the island and used my goblin glider to get to the ledge because it was way easier.

I seriously do question weather the people who make this game play it or they just sit back and release half-assed content and laugh at all of us as we attempt to complete it.